When I don’t get to go outside for a while, I start getting antsy. Not just outside, like stepping out of the house or the office and walking to the truck, but really outside, where there are no cell phones, emails or other demands. I need to disconnect from the civilized world every once in a while, and more so when the stresses of modern living start piling up.
And now that I have a bird dog again, I can see that he’s the same way. Sure, he gets to go outside and help feed the horses every morning and evening, and he normally gets let outside to run and play at least a couple times during the day. But that doesn’t scratch his itch to really stretch his legs and smell new smells.
So over the weekend, I loaded him up in the truck, grabbed the shotgun and headed down the road to a piece of land I have permission to hunt on. It’s only about a quarter section, but it’s covered with belt-high CRP grasses. I let Copper out and he immediately put his nose to the wind and started hunting.
He found a vole hole and a couple of badger holes, and at one point we got buzzed by a rough-legged hawk. He kicked up a rabbit down by the old farming equipment on the south end of the property, and I was completely relaxed watching him react to all the things he was seeing, hearing and smelling. We didn’t find any sharptails, but judging by his behavior, I’m pretty sure we found a few places they’d spent some time in recently.
Even though we didn’t bring dinner home, the trip was worth it for what we both left out there. Copper wore himself out bounding through that tall grass, and I got to spend a couple hours not thinking about anything but putting one step in front of the other and marveling at the beauty a fall evening in Wyoming can offer.
I think we’ll go back out there again this weekend.
